For this month’s outing, a bit of a change-up… The members of HAPPY MOUTH SUPPER CLUB met for brunch at Lavomatic, one of the Jean-Robert French Restaurant Group’s newest places. It’s a favorite of mine for their fresh, local, organic ingredients and whimsical preparations, plus the executive chef is a good friend of mine (hi Joanne!).

A few days ago, the members of Happy Mouth (and guests Julie & Terry) met to dine at Holly’s pick, Apsara, an Asian-fusion restaurant. We found that they had very nice sushi and a lobster soup that Wendy loved, and a nice curry. The rest of the food was very good as well (despite strong rumors to the contrary — inside joke).

There were a couple missteps, though. First, in a large (mostly-empty) restaurant, the management seated our large party (12-14) next to another large party in an otherwise-empty dining room. The noise was staggering, but even worse was that one lone server (with a lovely mullet) was serving both of our tables, which meant that service was slow and uneven.

But worst of all was when I noticed that my sushi order was a bit light — I hadn’t received everything I’d ordered. The server realized that he’d set my sushi plate down at the end of the table, and their sushi order was set before me. Both of us had started eating, but the server simply grabbed the plates and swapped them. Now, I’m no prude, and the folks that had their fingers in my food are friends, but that still counted as a giant mistake in my book. <sarcasm>Fortunately, the server went deaf just before I started complaining.</sarcasm> Otherwise, the food and experience was fun.

Another successful Happy Mouth!